Feb. 18, 2013

GFS Marketplace’s proposed site is set back from the corner of Bluemound Drive and West College Avenue.

Written by

Maureen Wallenfang

Post-Crescent Media

Grand Chute is gaining a new warehouse grocery store, but not the big-box style everyone knows.

This one, called GFS Marketplace, stocks bulk supplies for large scale parties, like graduations and church picnics, but it’s just 16,000 square feet. That’s about one-fourth the size of a conventional grocery store.

It’s like a mini-warehouse store open to the public without the membership fee.

The store’s proposed site is 301 N. Bluemound Drive on vacant land north of College Avenue. The store will be built from scratch on the north side of the parking lot it will share with the strip mall anchored by HuHot.

GFS’s site plan and building amendment request are up for review at Thursday’s Plan Commission meeting, and approval sounds likely.

“They’ve been working with us for several months,” said Bob Buckingham, the town’s community development director. “All the criteria have been met.”

The store’s parent company, Gordon Food Service based in Grand Rapids, Mich., is described on its www.gfs.com website as “the largest family owned and operated food service distributor in North America.” Its customers are large food and supply users like restaurants, schools and churches.

The company’s 153 retail stores, an offshoot of the wholesale operation, are in eight Midwestern states plus Florida. It currently has five stores and a distribution center in Wisconsin.